Matador Ballard — Restaurant in Seattle

This is the 3rd time we have gone to the Ballard location and will be our last. The food is fantastic, so we have tried & tried again. This last time was the worst, service wise. There was a wait, no biggy, we went to the bar to get drinks. The bar was not full to the hilt, although you would of thought so for how long I had to wait. It was as if the bartender was playing some kind of game, doing everything else (with expo's delivering her food) except for acknowledging that she had a customer standing there! I stood there for 10 mins before she took my order. Crazy. She was not friendly to her customers that were seated either, believe me, I had all the time in the world to watch what was going on. We get seated (very sweet hosts btw) and wait 10 minutes to be acknowledged and another FIFTEEN before we get our drinks. Me and my friends were happy to be out and about, looking forward to some drinks & good food on a Saturday night... so the slow service was like, whatever, but we're eating our entrees with empty drinks. The server nowhere to be seen, didn't checked on us. We finished our meals with a full table of app plates and dinner plates and empty glasses. When the server did come over, I told her we would of liked another drink with dinner & she instantly got angry instead of apologetic as if I was yelling or being confrontational, crazy. I was like, really? And she stomped off saying she'd get the manager. He bought us a round of drinks and we were out. If you don't want your lack of SERVICE to be addressed, be better! Walking away from this last experience with the prior service issues, it's clear that the employees (minus the hosts) are just not happy there and getting away with it all. Why is the server jumping down my throat and why does she think it's ok to treat customers like that? Same bad attitude with the bartender as well. We'll head over to the Redmond location, where we have enjoyed a super friendly and fun atmosphere....

I was debating between a 3 vs 4 for the overall rating because the food was really good (5 star on the food). It was fresh and well prepared, lots of flavors going on, and really enjoyable. That being said, this had to have been one of the worst service experiences I've had in a very long time. We sat at the table for about 15-20 minutes after being seated (and they were really busy, so I was surprised because most restaurants want to turn tables and serve the most numbers of customers). After looking through the menu multiple times, we flagged down a server who told us we were not her table, but she'd let our server know we were looking to order. About 5-10 minutes later, the hostess swings by with water glasses and tells us the server will be with us momentarily. Not sure if we were forgotten or what was going on, but finally our server approached the table asking if she could take our drink orders, but we let her know that we were ready to order everything, which we did (bottle of wine, a few beers, some appetizers, and entrees). Normally, the drinks would be out shortly, followed by appetizers, and then entrees, but not on our evening. We got the appetizers and entrees pretty much at the same time (3-5 minutes in between them), and then it took our server another 25-35 minutes to get the drinks (bottle of wine, etc...). Most mixed up meal we've ever had. Ended up sitting at the table well after we finished eating just to try to finish the bottle of wine. It was not a good experience. Next time I go - we will be very traditional and only order drinks at first. Then when the server brings the drinks, we'll move on to ordering appetizers. After they get served, we can refresh drinks and order entrees. This way, we won't experience what we did the other evening. Really a shame because the food...

Matador is a popular place especially during happy hour! I came on a Sunday at 5pm; we were a group of 3 and was able to take one of the last two open tables at that time. The host was very nice and let us choose indoor or outdoor seating and of course we went for outdoors! While they were seating us, I noticed that there were already 3 parties lined up behind me!

Many people rave about their happy hour menu and now I finally know why! It's a simple $5 and $6 menu with a variety of options. For the 3 of us, we got 3 things. Awesome quantity and quality food for the price. We were SO satisfied.

DEFINITELY get those GRANDE NACHOS. They really mean it when they named it "grande" - it was a grand mountain of nachos and you can choose to add protein to it as well for a small amount (we did ground beef). It's a glorious mess to eat, just like nachos should be. It felt like comfort food and they top it with pico, guac, black beans, sour cream.

Also DEFINITELY get those crispy brussels sprouts. They are crispy which and I think they flavor it with honey and balsamic...whatever it is, the flavor is fantastic and the crisp makes it easy and fun to eat! Delicious and also a favorite as well!

We got the 3 for $5 tacos and I think its awesome how they allow you to choose a different protein for each one. I thought the amount of meat and filling they give you for the taco is a little more on the lesser end and wasn't as impressed with this as the other dishes we got.

Overall, was so happy with the service, noms-ness of the food, and the fantastic price you pay for it. Will definitely come back again and is a great spot for happy hour and catching up...